Pseudosciences are destroying the reputation of Australia's universities

Mar 05, 2012 By Justin Norrie

Pseudosciences such as acupuncture have no place in universities, say the Friends of Science in Medicine. Credit: Flickr/NYCTCM

The international credibility of Australias universities is being undermined by the increase in the pseudoscientific health courses they offer, two academics have written in todays edition of the Medical Journal of Australia.

The strongly-worded editorial by Alastair MacLennan, a professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Adelaide, and Robert Morrison of Flinders University, is the latest shot in the acrimonious exchange between proponents of traditional medicine and practitioners of complementary and alternative varieties.

Professor MacLennan and Dr. Morrison are both founding members of Friends of Science in Medicine, a collection of more than 460 people and organizations who say they are dedicated to fighting the growth of pseudoscience in medicine. In January the group wrote a letter to every vice-chancellor in Australia asking for a review of their health science courses to ensure that primacy is given to scientific principles based on experimental evidence.

In their editorial, Professor MacLennan and Dr. Morrison write that academics at universities with courses such as homeopathy, iridology, reflexology, kinesiology, healing touch therapy, aromatherapy and energy medicine need to stand up for science.

Pseudoscientific courses sully the genuinely scientific courses and research conducted at the same institutions. Their scientists and students should be concerned by any retreat from the primacy of an experimental, evidence-based approach in science and medicine.

Alarmingly, they said, some chiropractors now extended their manipulation of the spine to children, and claimed that this could cure asthma, allergies, bedwetting, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, colic, fever and numerous other problems, and could serve as a substitute for vaccination.

The authors cited a number of courses  including a Graduate Certificate in Medical Acupuncture at Monash University, a Bachelor of Health Science in Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University of Technology, Sydney, and a Bachelor of Health Science (Acupuncture and Chinese Manual Therapy) at RMIT University  as evidence that the problem was spreading.

The acting head of RMIT Universitys School of Health Sciences, Dr Ray Myers, has defended the schools health science programs, which he said promoted evidence-based education and practice.

Chinese medicine, chiropractic and osteopathy were all government regulated, Dr Myers said. RMITs education program incorporated the best available evidence, while promoting further clinical research into these treatments."

The National Herbalist Association of Australia has also denounced the campaign to pressure universities and health funds to reject complementary medicine. Association President Leah Hechtman said that naturopathic and Western herbal medicine practitioners should be integrated into the healthcare system.

To achieve this, we need to increase our evidence base which requires university training. Without university training, research opportunities for practitioners and complementary medicines will reduce. To exclude naturopathic and Western herbal medicine courses from undergraduate or post graduate programs at Australian Universities is irresponsible."

In their editorial, Professor MacLennan and Dr Morrison provide a list of complementary and alternative medicine courses, units and clinics at Australian universities and TAFEs:

U.S. health care workers, especially doctors and nurses, use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) far more than do workers in other fields, according to a new study. CAM includes diverse therapies ...

Approximately 13 percent of parents turn to alternative therapies to treat their children's asthma, according to a new study from the Université de Montréal. The findings, published recently in the Canadian Respiratory Jo ...

In a University of Michigan Health System study, 1 out of 3 patients with chronic pain reported using complementary and alternative medicine therapies such as acupuncture and chiropractic visits for pain relief.

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasingly popular in maternity care, but healthcare professionals need formal evidence-based education and guidance about its use, according to a review in the March issue ...

(Phys.org)—It was an interesting week for physics research—most of the big news was centered around space, the cosmos or how things came to be as they are. One team of physicists offered a solution to the puzzle of the origin of matter in the universe—suggesting t ...

A total of 1.6 billion people worldwide – nearly a quarter of the global population – are forced to pay bribes to gain access to everyday public services, according to a new book by academics at the Universities of Birmingham ...

For well over two decades, researchers have sought to build music listening software that can address the deluge of music growing faster than our Spotify-spoilt appetites. From software that can tell you ...

A team of Cornell University researchers focusing on a fictional zombie outbreak as an approach to disease modeling suggests heading for the hills, in the Rockies, to save your 'braains' from the 'undead.'

User comments : 5

I notice the professor does not mention the other pseudoscience that has taken the psychotherapy world by storm: evolutionary psychology. Perhaps he views the other therapies as a threat to evolutionary psychology and wants them out of the way?

Why not, but ideological labelling of the undeniable results of traditional medicine is pseudoscientific as well. We should prove first, the acupuncture doesn't work - and we cannot, because we can never read about it in peer-reviewed press. Such research is simply as heretical, like the research of cold fusion in condensed matter physics.

In general you can use a single rule: the labelling of every research, which is avoided with peer-reviewed journals is pathological scepticism. The first extensive analysis of the term pseudoskepticism was conducted by Marcello Truzzi, Professor of Sociology at Eastern Michigan University, who in 1987 claimed that pseudoskeptics show the following characteristics:

These signs are:The tendency to deny, rather than doubt Double standards in the application of criticism The making of judgements without full inquiry Tendency to discredit, rather than investigate Use of ridicule or ad hominem attacks Presenting insufficient evidence or proof Pejorative labelling of proponents as 'promoters', 'pseudoscientists' or practitioners of 'pathological science.' Assuming criticism requires no burden of proof Making unsubstantiated counter-claims Counter-claims based on plausibility rather than empirical evidence Suggesting that unconvincing evidence is grounds for dismissing it Tendency to dismiss all evidence Organized skepticism tends to be automatically pathological

Wow, a trinity of twaddle in the comments so far. A creationist, an alternative* science peddler, and an complementary** medicine junkie.They are all baffled by science's rejection of their clear genius, and have invented a massive conspiracy of science to stifle their truth. @Kevin

Perhaps he views the other therapies as a threat to evolutionary psychology and wants them out of the way?

Perhaps he sees them as bollocks. Notice that creationism isn't mentioned. Because not even these rejected hand flapping superstitionists are stupid enough to teach that.

@Kinedryl/Rawa/Callippo

Organized skepticism tends to be automatically pathological

- of unsubstantiated bullshit. Fixed that for you.

@Sepp

Their game is all but over.

Both for them and for "mainstream" medicine which they seem to be so enamoured with

Mainstream = Effective. There's a term for alternative medicine that has been proven to work: "Medicine"

* - Bogus.** - ineffective.

Please sign in to add a comment.
Registration is free, and takes less than a minute.
Read more

Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.

Javascript is currently disabled in your web browser. For full site functionality, it is necessary to enable Javascript.
In order to enable it, please see these instructions.